This question is asked to candidates who are currently working. Most often, candidates respond: “I am looking for the best opportunities to develop my career.” But this answer may not be suitable for all candidates. For employees who have worked for a company for a long time and have not received a promotion, I do not recommend positioning their past job as a lack of career opportunities. It will be difficult enough to explain why you stayed in this job for so long if you did not see real chances for yourself to develop your career. Therefore, mentioning negative reasons for leaving the company should be avoided.
How to answer the question correctly: Why did you decide to change jobs? Say that you are not actively looking for a job. For example, “I’m just thinking about leaving the company” or “I love my job at the company, but…”. Indicate the reason that prompted you to start looking for a new job. Tell us about your career plan. Next, explain why you were attracted to work for their company. Also, complete your answer with a story about why you are interested in the vacancy, emphasize your strengths, and be suitable for performing tasks at a new job. By the way, you can see many vacancies on the site https://layboard.in/vacancies/jobs-in-saudi-arabia.
Examples of answers to the question: Why did you decide to change jobs?
Reason #1. Downsizing/bankruptcy
- Last year, the flow of new projects with confirmed funding fell by half, and key clients began to cut their budgets for marketing services. The company’s management decided to leave the market. So I started looking for a job.
- The company took out a loan five years ago to build another shopping complex. During the crisis, the company was unable to fulfill its credit obligations. And now bankruptcy proceedings have begun. When they declared bankruptcy, it came as a surprise to me. There was still hope that the company would solve its problems, but this did not happen. And I decided to look for a job.
- This year, due to instability in the market, the company with many employees re-registered contracts for another legal entity. By all indications, according to the information that I have, I conclude that some positions have been reduced, but I continue to work. I have updated my resume and am ready to consider interesting vacancies.
- The holding company I work for is undergoing a reorganization, within which layoffs are taking place. My division is to be reduced in full force. I have been working in the company for six years, starting as an accountant. Now I work as the head of the accounting department. I like my work very much. We have a very friendly team. But now the company is going through bankruptcy proceedings, so I started looking for a job.
Reason number 2. Relocation/Location
- The company planned to move its office from the city “X” a year ago, so I moved to live in the capital and immediately decided for myself that this is my city, and I want to live here. However, the crisis began, and the company changed its plans for opening an office in Hunger X. And I spend quite a lot of time on travel, and I’m not entirely happy with it. So now I’m looking for a job in my city.
- I learned that there is an open position in your company. I love my current position, but being able to work for a large, stable company like yours and get to the office in 15 minutes appeals to me. Now it takes me from one to two hours to get there.
- I continue to work, but I am ready to consider interesting options, as I have decided to move and I want to get a larger area of responsibility. Within the company, there is a certain policy of internal competition between branches, with such a business model, expansion to other branches is almost impossible. And even in the long term, I’m unlikely to succeed in getting a position as a leader. Therefore, I am open to suggestions.
Reason number 3. Change of direction
- I am not actively looking, but after a six-month evaluation in the company, I realized that there are no prospects for moving to another position, and my previous experience relates to a different direction. Therefore, I decided for myself that I want to build my future career in the retail business, and I am considering the position of the head of a bank office for myself. Therefore, your company and vacancy interested me very much.
- At Company X, I went through three stages from senior consultant to senior manager. Working with key clients in companies such as “X”, “Y”, and “Z”, I realized that if I stayed in consulting, I would not be able to dive in one direction and move from creating tools to using them. Also in the future, I would like to take responsibility for the full range of tasks within the investment process in this industry. This will give me much more opportunities for further career building. Therefore, I decided to transfer their consulting to companies operating in the oil and gas sector. Having worked in consulting, I got an idea of how different functions work in different companies, understand how the transformation takes place and learned how to quickly adapt to and solve a range of different tasks. Therefore, working in your company is more in line with my goals, and my previous experience will allow me to effectively cope with my duties.
- In my current job, for the last couple of years I have been developing the direction of data analytics and recently participated in a project to build a digitalization strategy. And I was convinced in practice how much the telecommunications industry has stepped forward since I was closely involved in it. I realized for myself that I want to develop my expertise in the field of project management in telecom, as I consider it much more promising. There is a deep understanding of the processes of investment activity in telecommunications. I am well versed in the principles of the cellular network. Therefore, I decided to change my job from project work to the real sector.
Reason number 4. Changing the company’s development strategy
- At the moment I work in the company “X”. Despite the fact that I managed to go through five stages of interviews and win the competition for this vacancy, I decided to leave this company. In January of this year, management announced a change in the company’s strategic development plans. As you understand, I cannot disclose these changes, as the information is confidential. So at the moment, I’m open to suggestions.
- For the past three years, I have held the position of a training manager, which is the only one in the company. Now in the company, I train only sales representatives. The company had plans to develop the training department, but, unfortunately, I was informed that the company’s strategy for the next five years does not include the opening of a new department. I would like to continue to work in the training department and conduct training for the management staff. Therefore, your vacancy is very interesting to me, as my experience and work portfolio of management training will allow me to implement new projects in your company.
- I am grateful to my company, as I gained professional experience in the field of IT, understood the nuances of searching for IT specialists, learned how to conduct excellent adaptation, and gained experience in participating in conferences. Now the company is in a state of stagnation due to the GDPR, according to which foreign customers consider contractors located locally only in their countries. In this regard, the additional recruitment of employees in Russia has been frozen. New Hr projects are also temporarily on hold. I would like to move on, I reported this to the leaders. There was an agreement between us that I would pass on all the information within a month, while I would simultaneously look for a job.
Reason number 5. Career prospects
- I have gained a lot of experience in my position. But now I want to take on more responsibility in order to have a greater impact on the bottom line. Your company will really allow me to see the results of my work, and this is important to me.
- From the moment I was invited to the company “X” I considered this job temporary, realizing that this is not the company in which I want to build a career. After six months of work, I was convinced of this. I want to note the advantages of working in this company: I gained experience with new access control and management systems and server equipment. My responsibilities include checking these systems during the design of the facility, coordinating the replacement of equipment if it is not on the market or being discontinued, and monitoring prices and suppliers. In addition, a very close-knit friendly responsive team. But there are also disadvantages: a long chain of approvals, and the lack of electronic approval. The decision to search took a month ago. Therefore, open to suggestions.
- Lack of prospects for development and growth in this company. Russia does not plan explosive growth; access to the level of IT manager in the region is impossible due to the company’s policy not to create a personnel reserve, but to attract top from outside. The fulfillment of KPIs only affects the percentage of the annual bonus and does not provide an opportunity for promotion. Therefore, I decided at the beginning of 2019 to monitor the market and be open to offers that are interesting to me.
